1. Field of the Invention
An aspect of this disclosure relates to a device management system.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a known device management system where a device management apparatus periodically polls managed devices (devices to be managed by the device management apparatus) to obtain device information and manages the managed devices based on the obtained device information.
More specifically, the device management apparatus manages the managed devices as described below. The device management apparatus receives network settings (Internet protocol (IP) addresses) that are, for example, multicasted by managed devices in the device management system and thereby identifies the managed devices. Next, the device management apparatus periodically polls the managed devices based on the network settings to obtain device information of the managed devices. Then, the device management apparatus registers the obtained device information in device management information and manages the managed devices based on the device management information.
Here, in a user environment where such a device management system is installed, it is possible that devices are moved from one department to another, old devices are replaced with new devices, and new devices are installed. These changes in the system configuration may result in changes in device identification information such as network settings of the devices.
For this reason, in a device management system, it is preferable to update device management information according to changes in the system configuration resulting from the movement and replacement of devices and the installation of new devices.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2009-244928, for example, discloses a communication device management apparatus that automatically detects replacement of communication devices.
However, since the disclosed communication device management apparatus detects communication devices (i.e., managed devices) by polling, the detection accuracy depends on the polling interval. If the polling interval is long, information on the communication devices is not obtained or updated for a long period of time and the reliability of the communication device management apparatus is reduced. Meanwhile, simply reducing the polling interval may increase the network traffic. Thus, with the disclosed technology, it is difficult to flexibly and reliably detect changes in a system configuration.